In a 90-day period back in 2016 a new political record of 2.1 million small donors signed up to support presidential candidate Donald J Trump. This represented the largest single quarter assembly of small donors from either political party in U.S. history. REMINDER:

(Via Politico 2016) Donald Trump has unleashed an unprecedented deluge of small-dollar donations for the GOP, and one that Republican Party elders have dreamed about finding for much of the last decade as they’ve watched a succession of Democrats — Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders and, to a lesser extent, Hillary Clinton — develop formidable fundraising operations, $5, $10 and $20 at a time.

Trump has only been actively soliciting cash for a few months, but when he reveals his campaign’s financials later this week they will show he has crushed the total haul from small-dollar donors of the last two Republican nominees, John McCain and Mitt Romney — during the entirety of their campaigns. (read more)

That was the moment when Party Chairman Reince Priebus realized the future of the modern Republican party was Trump’s. Indeed MAGA was larger than the GOP, and both Priebus and Sean Spicer recognized the Trump Train was not stopping; they were ‘all in’.

The scale of the small donor support is critical because it shows the depth and width of the supportive base. The donor list also becomes just as valuable as the contributions connected to it. For comparison and context: the entire Clinton donor list from all years of campaigning by Bill and Hillary was 2.3 million donors. Donald Trump gained 2.1 million donors in just 90 days during 2016.

That level of grassroots and small donor support for President Trump represented the Monster Vote; the previously unrecorded…. the MAGA Movement. It continues today:

WASHINGTON – The Republican National Committee raised more than $100 million in the first nine months of 2017, marking the first time it has raised that much, that fast, in a non-presidential election year.

The record-breaking fundraising can be largely attributed to a flurry of small-dollar donors responding to fundraising appeals by the first Republican president in eight years, Donald Trump, according to a new report to be released later this week and obtained by McClatchy.

The numbers give Republicans a large cash advantage over Democrats as they look to retain control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections next year.

Last month, the RNC hired state directors in 17 states across the nation, including Florida, Missouri and North Carolina, as part of what the party says will be the most expansive midterm field program in its history. (read more)